Questions for Testers

I've signed up here to test (and no - not just Horizons ), but I've been wondering how the process is going for those that have succeeded in getting into any of the Betas. I don't want to talk about anything covered under NDAs - don't answer me if you think you're in a grey area!

Anyway, a few questions -

Does it seem worth the time and effort? I've done this for a few software companies where I got paid - granted they weren't games and granted we were supposed to deliver results - but some of it was mind-numbing (you don't ever want to check software results against Tax-Depreciation schedules by hand, trust me on this!).

Second part to the above - do you test or play more? The few game related betas I've been in were of the 'stress-test' open beta variety - they just wanted bodies to see if their hosts would stay up. Some of the betas here seem to be more linear than others, so I'd assume just playing the game would be a decent 'test' - others seem to be of the 'find a way to break this' variety.

Do you feel like you've actually got input? Dialogue with the developers and QA - ability to say, 'this is too easy or too hard' - above and beyond simply saying 'this is broken'. Or even a 'what were you thinking here' or 'wow that was a great idea'?

Last - do you feel like you're doing anything important? I guess that's the culmination of all the questions - is the overall experience fun and enjoyable? Even when the game crashes right before you've won for the 20th time?